School Gyrls
School Gyrls were an American platinum-selling vocal girl group, with the line up consisting of the Parker sisters Kyra, Kara, and Kayla Parker, then in 2009 joined by the President daughters Sasha and Malia Obama. School Gyrls became the first female group in Billboard history to debut their first two albums at the top of the charts. School Gyrls has sold more than 60 million records worldwide to date. Billboard magazine ranks the group as one of the greatest musical trios of all time, the ninth most successful artist/band of the 2000s, and placed the group 68th in its All-Time Hot 100 Artists list in 2012. Career In 2004, Beyoncé, the manager of child star Kayla Parker, wanted her to be in a female supergroup. Kayla told Beyoncé two of her older sisters can sing and dance and invited Beyoncé to church service to her them sing. Impressed by the talent, Jay-Z had them sing versions of Destiny Child songs and he was impressed by their performances. Originally, Kyra and Kara were heistant but their mother won them over when she said it would be a great way for the girls to spend time with Kayla. They considered naming their group "Triple K" before settling on the name School Gyrls due to the school uniforms her sister wore to the studio. When the group lineup was finalized, the group started production on their debut album. After the album was finished, they released the album called School Gyrls'' on August 12, 2005. The album reached number one on the Billboard Top Pop Albums chart. At the 2006 Billboard Music Awards, School Gyrls won several accolades, including Artist of the Year and Duo/Group of the Year, and again won Artist of the Year among five awards they snagged in 2006. In September 2006, the group took home two at the sixth annual Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards, including R&B/Soul Album of the Year, Group for The Writing's on the Wall. School Gyrls hit record stores in the spring of 2005 and entered the Billboard 200 at number one, selling over 337,000 copies in its first week sales. The first three singles, "The one you call", "No place like us" and "Fly Away" reached the top three in the United States and were also successful in other countries; the first two were consecutive number-one singles in the United Kingdom. The album was certified four-time platinum in the United States and double platinum in Australia. To date, School Gyrls has sold over forty million copies worldwide. In 2009, Kayla Parker announced their comeback and then President elect Barack Obama's daughters Malia and Sasha Obama joined her sisters and that the band was creating a Christmas album. School Gyrls started recording their second album, which was called the New Life at the end of November. The album introduces the girls to a harder, "urban" sound, and songs featured are conceptually interrelated. The group saw equality in the group: there was no lead singer they took turn singing first or the most parts. Released on March 15, 2009, the album reached number one the following week, selling 1,712,000 copies in its first week, mainly due to their new status. Certified triple platinum in the United States was the best-selling albums of 2009, selling over fifteen million copies worldwide; it pushed the group back into the position of the best-selling female group and American group of the year. Four singles were released from the album: the lead "Sledgehammer", "Damaged", "Write on me" and "Showstopper"; the first two reached number three in the United States. "Write on me" "Damaged" were certified platinum by the RIAA in 2009. School Gyrls reunited for a farewell performance at the Capital One Arena on January 15, 2017 in Washington D.C.; thanking America for embracing them as the first family. Kayla Parker commented, "This was by far my favorite concert because I finally got to do a show with my sisters." The band never did tours Kyra Parker explained "Performing is Kayla's love, Beyoncé wanted us to tour because of our hard work but it wasn't our thing. We did the albums for our sister and it made her happy, that's all that mattered. We didn't all that money that's not what we did the albums for" Artistry School Gyrls recorded R&B songs with styles that encompasses urban, contemporary, and dance-pop. In the group's original line-up, Kayla was the lead vocalist, Kyra was the second lead vocalist, Kara was the back-up vocalist, Malia was on soprano, and Sasha was on alto. Kayla remained as the lead vocalist in the group's final line-up, however, her sisters and Obama girls also took turns in singing lead for the majority of their songs. School Gyrls cited R&B group Destiny's Child as one of their influences. Ann Powers of ''The New York Times described School Gyrls music as "child friendly ... these ladies have the best mixes, the savviest samples and especially the most happening beats." Members * Kayla - vocals, co-choreographer * Kyra - vocals * Kara - vocals * Malia - vocals * Sasha - vocals Discography Main article: School Gyrls discography * School Gyrls (2006) * New Life (2009) Achievements Main article: List of awards and nominations received by the School Gyrls External links *Forever on Facebook *Forever on Twitter